GOP Tax Bill To Eliminate Student Loan Forgiveness Program

The Higher Education Act seeks to end student loan forgiveness for graduates who land in public service.

On the heels of tax reform, House Republicans are working to eliminate a program that forgives student loans for graduates who take jobs in public service, including government organizations and charities and the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps.

The GOP bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, introduced by Rep.Virginia Foxx(R-N.C.) on Friday, would eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which erases student debt for those who work for qualifying employers after making payments for 10 years.

Under Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Department of Education has also given consideration to ending the debt forgiveness program.

The department has also reportedly considered ending other policies that would eliminate debt forgiveness, including anObama administration rulethat erased the debt of students defrauded by predatory for-profit programs.

As part of its plan to slow the growth of federal student loans, graduate students and parents of undergraduates would face so-far-unspecified caps on how much they could borrow for tuition and living expenses—instead of borrowing whatever schools charge. The change could cut into enrollment and potentially siphon off billions of dollars a year from universities.